Udinese vs Napoli

Dacia Arena is the venue as bottom-half Udinese and champions-elect Napoli go head-to-head in a tasty-looking Serie A contest.

After a 1-0 defeat at Lecce last time out condemned Udinese to a fourth winless match in the past five Serie A rounds (D1, L3), a tenth consecutive bottom-half finish looks like a near-certainty. But with six games left, a three-point deficit on 10th-placed Monza is bridgeable, although Udinese’s abysmal run of three scoring blanks in their last five league outings dampens the optimism. Speaking of the home side’s discomfort going into this matchday, they’ve suffered a staggering 12 defeats in their last 13 top-flight meetings with Napoli (D1) since beating them 3-1 at home in April 2016. Unbeaten in six straight home league fixtures in the build-up to this showdown (W2, D4), Udinese may feel now’s the time to turn their dismal H2H fortunes around.

On the other hand, Napoli squandered a massive opportunity to celebrate a long-overdue Scudetto in front of the home crowd last weekend as Salernitana’s late equalizer held them to a 1-1 draw. However, a third consecutive league win in Udine would crown ‘I Partenopei’ Serie A champions for the first time since 1990. It would see them become only the third side in the three-points-per-win era to seal the title in Italy’s top flight with five games to spare. Everything points in this direction, with Luciano Spalletti’s side winning their last eight away league matches, including seven without conceding. The extension of that formidable run would see Napoli equal the club-record streak of nine successive top-flight triumphs on the road.